The present invention relates to cabling systems in general, and more particularly to wire and fibre-optic product cabling systems with cable strand tension-controlling apparatus.
The present invention further relates to an apparatus for controlling the tension of strands that will be wound up on a take-up reel including an apparatus for automatically and accurately maintaining constant the tension in a strand material being handled.
Prior art devices have attempted to control individual cable strand tension and lay speed in many ways. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,929,193 by Cook limited pay off speed control by adjusting the speed as the diameter of the coil material on the wind up reel varied accordingly.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,981,083 issued to Sumerville, applied a "planetary" cabling approach to the problem of strand cabling and tension control. Here the "haul off" mechanism was mounted in a cradle which revolved during operation in order to twist the wires into a cable or strand.
Cook in U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,948, provided for an apparatus which allowed for differential speed of rotation of the pay off flyer and the take up reel under relatively light and uniform wire tension throughout the twisting and winding operation. Here however, it was necessary to operate at relatively slow cabling production speeds.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,338,848, Henning et al dealt with the strand tension control problem by providing a differential gear mechanism receiving power from the flyer driving motor, and also from an induction type torque motor, and delivering the power to drive the take up closer reel. This apparatus also required lower ranges of operating speeds and did not as effectively control the cable strand tension as does the present invention.